Occurrence
by disco flashh
Summary: Something on the forest floor caught her eye. It was jutting out from the blanket of snow, black and smooth and when she pulled it out, she saw it had jagged line running down the center.


**Title:** Occurrence

**Summary:** Something on the forest floor caught her eye. It was jutting out from the blanket of snow, black and smooth and when she pulled it out, she saw it had jagged line running down the center.

**Warning:** None.

**Rating:** K+

**Disclaimer:** I, in no way, own the Harry Potter series or much anything that relates to it.

* * *

It's her seventh year and the winter holidays are coming faster then ever. Everyone is flushed from the cold and excitement of Christmas and she smiles along with them, happy that there is so much good cheer.

Today she's skipping through the forest, never feeling too old to skip and feeling like a fairytale character as she went through the whitened forest alone. A basket is even at her arm, full with rocks. Peculiar rocks, shaped like certain things or particularly shiny or colorful. The basket is getting heavy as she drops more rocks in but she doesn't mind. She ignores it as she ignores the biting frost that nips at her nose and lips.

Humming along and smiling up at the birds, she goes on her way. Getting deeper into the forest, the light that filtered through the trees and brightened the snow begins to dim. Shadows are cast like drawings on a blank canvas on the forest floor. She smiles and feeds a rabbit the bit of bread she had in her pocket from breakfast. Now she is deep in the woods, and she can hear the passing of centaurs and the rustle of bushes among the quiet winter air. It was darker now, but she didn't mind and didn't even reach for her wand to grant more light. Instead, she picked up a rock and examined it before dropping it into her basket.

The rocks are for a necklace or bracelet -- perhaps both because she can' t decide which and now she's gotten so many rocks they could certainly make both-- for her good friend Ginny, for Christmas. She steps closer into the thickest parts of the woods and finds herself in a familiar place.

This is where the spiders are, she remembers. Once, in her second year, she had came into the woods to feed the threshals and found herself in a clearing of spiders. Aragog, she found out, was the leader of the millions of spiders that lived there. She spent the whole day talking with him, ignoring the spiders that watched her hungrily and the howls of a wolf when night came. Aragog prevented his children from eating her but told her she wasn't to come again for it wasn't define that he could stop them. She agreed reluctantly, the thought of being devoured by hundreds of spiders _did _scare her a bit and didn't return.

Now, she remembered Hagrid in her fifth year, crying about how his spider friend died and she realized that with Aragog gone, she was unprotected from his children. Stepping back uncertainly, she quietly moved away from the clearing to behind a nearby bush, wondering if any of the spiders sensed her yet.

Her basket's weight suddenly hit her arm as she realized just how many rocks she had collected. Deciding it was enough and feeling like a frightened first year (to this she giggled inwardly for she always felt she acted younger then her age), she began creeping away from the spiders.

Until of course, something on the forest floor caught her eye. It was jutting out from the blanket of snow, marring the smooth surface. It was black and smooth and when she pulled it out, she saw it had jagged line running down the center. Dirt and snow clung to it and she curiously turned it over in her hands a few times.

"Luna."

The voice made her jump, for she recognized it instantly but didn't expect to hear it ever again. Very slowly, she turned to meet the eyes that she had not seen in so long.

"Mum?" it was a whisper, disbelief and fright rushed at her in a dizzying rate.

The woman before her was not solid, she could see, but looked more real then the ghosts at the castle. Her hair was slightly messy and just as blonde as it had been those years ago, and her eyes were just as blue and wide as they had been before.

She smiled but instead of returning it, Luna furrowed her brow and frowned.

"You're dead," she told more herself then her mother.

"Yes, I am," admitted the woman, still smiling. "But I'm here also, aren't I?"

"I can't quite be sure," Luna said, still frowning as she surveyed her mother. "You're not a ghost."

"No."

"But you're not alive."

"No."

"And yet you're here," Luna's brow furrowed deeper with the confusion of the situation.

"That I am," her mother seemed happy and the smile never faded.

"Then what are you? A figment of my imagination perhaps?"

"Perhaps," smiled her mother. "Something like that, but why would you be imagining me?"

"I don't know," Luna sighed. "I haven't done so since I was ten. I knew you weren't coming back and my imaginations weren't the same."

"You were always so bright," said her mother brightly. "Of course you're a Ravenclaw."

"Yes but I can't figure out what you are or why you're here," Luna thought for a moment as her mother watched her. "Are you perhaps a memory?"

"I think that is closest to what I am now," agreed her mother.

"Ginny told me about what happened to her in first year, how Tom Riddle was so clear to her, even if she couldn't remember well and blacked out and he was just a memory," Luna looked her mother over, deciding what she was. "I think you are a memory."

"Then I suppose that's what I am," her mother beamed happily. "I'm so happy to see you."

"It's good to see you too Mum, but this isn't..." Luna trailed off, trying to find the right words.

"I understand dear," her mother said softly. "It's up to you when I leave."

"It's curious how now it is, but when I was nine...it wasn't," Luna felt a sharp stinging in her eyes and nose that didn't come from the cold.

"I'm sorry it happened." the smile was now fading, but her blue eyes still searched her daughter's.

"Of course, Dad and I were too," Luna swallowed and smiled slightly. "But you can't change what happens anyway. So I stopped imagining you and moved on, but I kept the memory of you with me."

She paused and glanced at her mother. "Not in this was of course."

"Of course," her mother smiled.

"So you understand that this isn't right."

"I do."

"I'll have to let you go then."

"I understand."

Luna turned to leave but paused once more. "And Mum?"

"Yes dear?"

"I love you still you know."

"I know, I love you too."

"Goodbye then Mum."

And with one last smile, Luna turned and headed off. She then remembered the stone in her hand and decided not to use it. A stone as magnificent as that doesn't deserve to hang on a piece of string, but be on display for nature to see and use it as it pleases.

Dropping it to the ground, Luna kept walking, not turning back but looking forward as she left the forest.

And although she had accepted her mother's death years ago, she felt considerably lighter as she stepped into the sunlight of the grounds and toward the castle.

* * *

**Note: **I don't know, I just thought this would be interesting. I wasn't sure if she was off character buuut... I liked the dialogue anyway.This one is actually one of my favorites. Enjoy; Review; Subscribe.


End file.
